Carla has been a part of the Chicago Bears Football Club since 2018, joining the team in a full time role in 2020. As the inaugural full time team clinician, she has built the mental wellness program to support players, coaches and support staff through individual/group therapy, rookie programming and organization wide psychoeducation.

Prior to joining the Bears, she served as a mental health clinician at the Wellness Center of Loyola University Chicago. Her clinical areas of focus include working with emerging adults on issues such as identity development, anxiety, depression and life transitions.

She earned a Bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University and masters degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (Secondary Education) and Temple University (Counseling Psychology), respectively.

Prior to joining Loyola, she spent 16 years in Division 1 college athletics. At Temple University, she served as a Learning Specialist predominantly working with Men’s/Women’s basketball, football, softball and baseball. While at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carla developed the Learning Services unit within academic services starting as a learning specialist and ending her
tenure as the Assistant Director of Academic Services, Learning Services.

During her time at Illinois, her primary team responsibility was football. In this role, she worked with students on building cognitive strategies and skills related to ADHD/LD. She served as the liaison to Sports Medicine and Sports Psychology.

Throughout her time in collegiate athletics, she continued her work as a clinician at community agencies in Philadelphia and Champaign. She is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) in Illinois.

Join us on A Chat in the Garden with Monique A. J. Smith. Listen to our guest’s career path, her advice for others & current initiatives...A Chat in the Garden with Monique A.J. Smith, where Significance Blooms. Listen via Spreaker, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music/Audible, or www.chatinthegarden.com. This is Season 11. Seasons 1- 10 and season 11 (through December 2025) can be found on 200plus.expert.